RPG

Took a small break from the lasers of STO to bloody me sword! I got the latest Dragon Age DLC: Return to Ostagar. As with most DLC its about one hour of game play; not bad. I already had the BioWare points so was no extra cost.

It was good to work out the sword arm again and get ready for the Dragon Age expansion: Awakening. Also was a great way to adjust the video settings for the new NVIDA 9800 GT 1GB. DA ran very smooth and looks even better.

Got expansion on pre-order with Amazon. Look forward to some more darkspawn bloodshed end of this month.

Seems like lots of my gaming has been STO. However, I have had my eyes on the long awaited DLC for Dragon Age. Return to Ostagar.

I patched and downloaded Return to Ostagar and pre-ordered the next expansion; Awakening. (had a $10 game credit from Amazon that plus free shipping).
I read the DLC is not very long (as I expect) .. apx 60 minutes. So I will use it to dust off my sword N’ shield skills over next week.

Then Awaking will arrive in a few weeks; I look forward to more Dragon Age..... RARR!
Also I may upgrade my aged 8600GT to a 9800GT.

I was surprised when I completed the main story and game. Looking at my stats and I have missed apx 50% of the other content in DAO.

Still…

Very cool end and loved the journey. Think I put in apx 50 hours in to my human warrior’s journey. Not satisfied on my DAO fill I started again .. twice!


Stared a Human Mage and Elf rogue (the city elf origin). I really liked the city elf origin story. It's very dark; a pusdo Braveheart thing going on where your bride to be is taken by a human noble. With murder and hits of gang rape it lends to a dark start for my elf.

Got past the battle of Ostagar and immediately stared a human mage. That has a pretty good start; not as compelling as the human noble or city elf. However find the mage a blast to play over my ranged rouge (i.e. ranger).

Might do the dalish elf start and redo the city elf. Make the city elf more an assassin (stealth and duel wield) and dalish more ranger (ranged combat).

I found I really need a rouge in the party (unlocking really les to more money and goods). So as warrior or mage I need Leliana in the party. If I do an assassin; I’ll leave her in camp and bring Shale along with Alistair and Morrigan. Lots of character options for your party.

With more DLC on the way DAO will have a good life span on my hard drive.

I jumped in and grabbed a copy of Dragon Age Origins (DAO).


I admit I followed the development months ago; then it dropped off my “gota get” list.
Think I did not want to get over hyped. I became little skeptical and waited about a week after initial launch; looking for any reports of massive bugs and wanted to get wind of game play.

After the feedback of a WoW guild mate and listening to several podcasts I got a copy last night.
The tipping point .. the Gamers with Jobs podcast number 161; Michael Zenke plugged DAO (not is exact words) .. "if you love MMOs then you will love DAO". So I could not take it and had to get my dragon on.

And only been few hours in however so far I LOVE IT!

If you enjoy single player RPGs then I say grab this dragon by the tail.

Torchlight

Got wind of this game from a few podcasts so I deiced to get the demo. And gota say.. very very fun!

Here are a few listed features:

Randomization – Our level layouts are randomly created, so each adventure is unique. Monsters, treasures, puzzles, and items are also different each time you embark on an adventure.

Retirement System – Once characters are sufficiently leveled up, they can “retire” and bestow specific benefits and perks to new characters.

Pets – Players will choose a pet to accompany them. Pets can level up along with the player, and will help in battle, carry items, and perform a variety of helpful services.

Character Classes – Players will create and customize a character and choose an animal companion. Through cosmetic choices, skill path decisions, and the treasures they acquire, each character will be custom-tailored and different.

Fishing – Players can take a break from the high-energy pace of adventuring to visit one of the fishing holes and relax and see what they can catch. Fish have interesting benefits for the player and pet, and other rewards can also be discovered

Check out the site, look at the media.

It has been a long time since I played any of the Diablo games and Torchlight play like it (I think some of the devs are from the old Diablo dev team). It was fun getting back into that style of game play.

Also game goes for $20! IMO it a money well spent.

Other than playing WoW; I have competed Fallout 3 Mother Ship Zeta (Fallout 3 has been a fantastic RPG ride!) and played some FarCry 2 (had an itch to try it again in hardcore mode), and a few demos.
I plan to clean off a few games; FarCry 2, Blood Bowl, and any played demos. And put Mass Effect back on.

With Fallout 3 going to “shelved” mode I feel the draw back into Mass Effect. With Mass Effect 2 using your saved games I want to be able to use that RPG mechanic.

So a MMO (WoW) and single player RPG (Mass Effect) will be a nice balance.

Think I keep my saved games? hmmm.